Although I am not a trained technician – rather an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to working on cars – and was brought up in the days when points and condensors were about as technical as car electrics got, I do really enjoy reading some of the diagnostics related stories written by our contributors in our Diagnostics, Diesel Diagnostics and Troubleshooting pages.
Some of them such the “Kawa capacitor” story by Herbert Leijen of AECS in the last (March) issue read a bit like a good detective novel as the “hero” descends through the levels of investigative work to finally get their man (capacitor in this case!).
This detective work relies on three things. The first is an agile mind that enjoys solving problems – what’s the bet some of the best diagnosticians love jigsaws, cryptic crosswords or Wordle in their relaxation time? The second is good training, again amongst others our columnists, Launch NZ, AECS and Diesel Help all offer a great range of courses to learn and increase your skills. The third and possibly the most important factor though is the right suite of diagnostic test equipment. Our feature in this issue looks at some of the options in this area and how to keep up with the ever-changing electronics landscape by way of software and or hardware upgrades.
Whilst back in the day when I dabbled with car repairs a timing light and analogue multi meter was the go-to in terms of equipment, now the stakes and the equipment required is much higher, and so are the consequences of choosing the wrong equipment.
Sherlock Holmes may have relied on a trusty magnifying glass but now he would have full crime labs with DNA, multi spectral photo analysis and electron microscopes, so maybe it’s time to put your old magnifying glass (Timing Light) out to pasture and get some state of the art diagnostic equipment.